Cambria Snyder

Hello my name is Cambria Snyder, I am an undergraduate at West Virginia University

Davis College of Agriculture, Natural Resources and Design where I am majoring in horticulture.

My goal is to graduate with my bachelor’s degree in the spring of 2025 and start a master’s

degree the following fall. In the spring of 2023, I graduated from Garrett College with an

associate’s degree in General Studies. As a Garrett Laker, I was a member of the Phi Theta

Kappa Honor Society. Through my time as a Mountaineer, I was inducted into the Honor

Society of Agriculture, Gamma Sigma Delta. I enjoy the outdoors, expanding my knowledge of

botany, and time with my two Australian shepherds; Teddy and Macie. As a youth, I was a

member of the RedHouse 4-H club and Oakland FFA chapter. Being in the 4-H, extension has

always been a familiar aspect to me. For my future career, I believe I would love a job working

in extension. 

4-H crafts with kids
This is an afterschool activity that allows kids the opportunity to be creative and create a craft that they can enter into the Garrett County Fair. This time the craft was string art in the shape of a 4-H clover. We had a a good little turnout of 4-Her's. 

This summer I’ll be helping out at the University of Maryland Extension office in

Garrett County. I’ll be having two mentors this summer, Jennifer Bentlejewski and Willie Lantz.

Through the summer I’ll be doing a variety of things from working with 4-H youth development,

Master Gardeners in both Garrett and Allegany counties, and with the Agriculture and Food

Systems. This summer internship fits into my educational future by providing me with a network

of learning experiences. There is a plethora of information to learn from all the community

learning activities put on by the University of Maryland Extension and from each extension

agent. Soaking in and absorbing their knowledge will help give me an edge as I enter into my

senior year at West Virginia University. This experience is one like no other and it will help

prepare me to acquire and utilize skills needed for a professional career. To close I want to

share with you all a snippet of my busy first week. Amidst all the business my first week was

memorable in creating new bonds and friendships with University of Maryland Extension faculty,

Master Gardeners, and people from our community. 

Friendsville community garden
A few volunteers showed up to help make this a success. We are excited to watch everything grow and be able to provide a fresh free food source for the people in the Friendsville community. 

On my first day, I hit the ground running

and assisted with 4-H crafts at the Garrett office. Later that week on Friday I assisted with the

planting of the Friendsville community garden and Deep Creek apprentice gardens. The goal of

the community garden is for people to come and see how produce is grown and then be able to

reap the benefits of the harvest. This past Monday I assisted with the planting of the Sang Run

State Park vegetable garden, produce grown in the garden will be used in meals at their fall fest.

To wrap up Monday I assisted the Master Gardeners in teaching a free gardening class at our

local library. This has been an eventful first week and I’m excited for all the learning

opportunities and experiences to come.

Sang Run State Park garden.
Ashley Bodkins (horticulture & master gardener coordinator), Master Gardeners and I  assisted park rangers in the planting of their garden. They will use this garden to reap the benefits of their labor for their annual fall festival. The produce will be used to make food items for their event.